


A Summer of Discord

by shootingstarcipher



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-22 09:14:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7428879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shootingstarcipher/pseuds/shootingstarcipher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After declaring war on Ford, Bill’s ambitions change from taking over the world to taking over his nemesis’ would-be apprentice, Dipper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cornered

The sun was setting earlier than usual. That was the first sign that something wasn’t quite right. Normally it stayed light until late into the night, only serving to confuse the inhabitants of Gravity Falls by tricking them into believing it was earlier than it actually was. And yet now the burnt orange of the sun’s dying rays were already merging with the darkened purple and blue of the approaching night sky even though it was only 8 o’clock.

Dipper frowned at the sight outside the living room window and pressed his nose up against the glass. He beckoned to his twin sister, Mabel (who was too busy gluing sequins to her face to notice both her brother and the strangely early sunset), but quickly gave up when he realised she wasn’t paying attention to him. If he squinted, he could see something golden emerging from amongst the garish amalgamation of colour in the distance and if it was what he thought it was, he’d definitely be in for a tough time. Taking Mabel’s advice - an event which rarely occurred - he turned his back on what may have been his worst nightmare coming to life and pulled the curtains to a close, blocking out the piercingly flamboyant colours of the sky almost completely.

Trying his hardest to push away the feelings of dread that were creeping up on him, he settled himself into a corner and opened the book he’d been carrying, picking up from where he’d left off the last time he’d read it. From the corner of his eye he saw Mabel glance at him disapprovingly, probably at his obsession with detective novels and not at his decision to take her advice and try to ignore what was bothering him. She had climbed onto Stan’s armchair and was hanging from it upside-down, with her legs curled around the back of the chair and her long dark hair reaching down to touch the floor. She giggled manically, kicking her legs in excitement over apparently nothing.

After glancing up at her from the floor momentarily and deciding that peace and quiet was what he needed most at that time, Dipper stood up and - sending a small smile in his sister’s direction to let her know she hadn’t done anything wrong - carried his book out of the room and headed upstairs to the attic. The day had been stressful to say the least, what with the recent discovery of Stan’s secret twin (Ford, former associate of the notorious dream demon, Bill Cipher) and his warning of the demon’s likely return. Following his previous encounters with the demon, the sight of anything golden or triangular now had Dipper stricken with fear. He’d seen first-hand what the demon was capable of and now even his great uncle Ford was concerned. As far as he was aware, things couldn’t have been worse. Of course, knowing this, Bill made it his personal mission to prove otherwise.  
Dipper slept with one eye open that night. He tried to, anyway. Mabel didn’t seem so bothered by their great uncle’s warning and slept peacefully through the night, almost as if she was blissfully unaware of the dangerous consequences the demon’s return to Gravity Falls could - and would - bring. Or perhaps she thought of the warning as nothing more than an empty threat. 

Ford had told them that morning that the demon had visited him in a dream the night before, to declare him an enemy and alert him to the beginning of a war he intended to wage against him. He was convinced that Bill would attempt to use the twins to get to him - either as ransom or by demonic possession - and had told them so, hoping they would understand the seriousness of their situation. Dipper did; Mabel didn’t.

Expecting to be confronted by the demon at any moment, Dipper had tried hard to stay awake but ultimately failed. His sister’s approach (disregarding the source of stress as opposed to addressing it) clearly didn’t work for him. Nothing could get his mind off the strangeness of the sunset, the golden shape he’d seen on the horizon, and most of all, Ford’s warning. It seemed he had nothing to fear, however, because the only thing that stopped him from enjoying a peaceful night’s sleep was his own nervousness. Bill left him alone, choosing not to appear in his dreams that night. But it was only a matter of time.

He checked with Mabel the next morning to make sure she hadn’t encountered the demon during the night. She hadn’t, and neither had anyone else. Some - including Mabel - may have considered this good news, but Dipper had other ideas. It didn’t feel right. If Bill really was going to use them, why would he wait? This was especially strange as Dipper believed he’d seen the demon from the living room window the night before. Maybe he was just watching them, observing them until he found the perfect moment to strike. That wouldn’t have been too surprising, but Bill didn’t seem to be the patient type.

And he wasn’t.

It had been years since Dipper had been in the habit of taking naps in the afternoon, but his lack of sleep the night before resulted in him being too exhausted to keep himself awake later on in the day. He ventured down into the basement to speak to his great uncle Ford after eating lunch in the diner with Mabel and Stan, and after a few minutes managed to gather the confidence to ask him how dangerous Bill really was. He was already aware that the demon was always watching, but what he was unsure about was his precise strengths and weaknesses. As it turned out, as well as being all-seeing, he also seemed to be all-powerful, having an enormous number of strengths and only one or two known weaknesses.

Neither of them knew it at the time, but when Dipper returned to the living room after his relatively short conversation with Ford and curled up in Stan’s armchair (Stan was busy giving another tour of the Mystery Shack to a crowd of naïve tourists) and quickly fell asleep, it wasn’t long before the demon appeared before him.

The way in which he introduced himself to the human this time was massively different and surprisingly helpful in comparison to the first. In the dream he was falling, plunging to the ground below for no apparent reason. This was the first event to happen in the dream and so the series of events leading up to it were missing from his brain. Below him was a sea of blackness which he was racing towards with incredible speed. His heart hammered against his ribs inside his chest and he squeezed his eyes shut as he braced himself for the inevitable crash into nothingness he expected to happen at any second.

It didn’t. Instead, he stopped in mid-air, and opened his eyes slowly to find an eerie blue glow surrounding him. Gradually, he and the bubble of light around him began to move, floating upwards until he was eventually deposited onto firm solid ground.

From behind him came a laugh he would recognise anywhere. The last time he’d heard it had been the last time he’d set eyes on the being he considered his worst and only enemy. He refused to look at him. He folded his arms across his chest and scowled at the ground, unwilling to give Bill the chance to catch his attention. The demon stayed quiet as Dipper focused all of his attention on the patch of blue-green grass underneath his feet, though he couldn’t help chuckling from time to time and eventually gave in to the need to force the human to notice him.

The grass disappeared from beneath Dipper’s feet and he was suddenly thrown against a wall that hadn’t been there before, causing him to crash into the corner of a room entirely built out of concrete - floor included - which Bill had created in a second simply for the purpose of trapping him in. The demon appeared in front of him, cornering him, and laughed manically at the human’s situation, taunting him. “Scared, Pine Tree?” Reluctantly lifting his head up to stare at the demon, Dipper blinked at him, choosing not to answer his question. They both knew the answer anyway. Of course he was scared, though Bill had to admit he was good at hiding his fear; he wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for the fact that he could read his thoughts.

“No need to worry, kid. I’m not here to terrorise you - not yet, anyway,” he added with a dangerous glimmer in his eye. Before Dipper could ask why he was there if it wasn’t to terrorise him, the demon reminded him of the fact that he had, in his opinion, just saved his life. Dipper protested, arguing that it was only a dream so it didn’t count. “Your dream, my reality,” Bill contended and the human had nothing to say to that.

He bit his lip and sank to the concrete floor in defeat in respect to that particular issue, but metaphorically stood his ground when it came to his dislike of the demon. “Don’t think I’ll ever actually trust you, whether you saved my life or not. You worked with Gideon! You’re at war with my uncle!” he exclaimed, standing up from the floor and aggressively lurching forward by his final sentence, when he finally managed to gather his confidence.

Bill rolled his eye at him, telling him to relax. “Listen kid, I like you. It’s that six-fingered traitor you call an uncle I hate. But you are a kid after my own heart.” The corner of Dipper’s mouth twitched and he narrowed his eyes at the thought that Bill could possibly have heart, but restrained himself and kept his mouth shut. “I’m only here to make you a proposal. Not only would you be useful to me, but I can help you with whatever you want. Think about it.”

Dipper had no intention of thinking about it. As far as he was concerned, nothing Bill could offer him would be enough to convince him to abandon his family and join the demon in his efforts to destroy Ford and take over the world. Of course, this was before Ford gave him a reason to turn his back on him.


	2. Alarm Bells

Nothing Bill could offer him would persuade him to turn his back on his family. He would later come to scoff at that thought. Regardless, one thing he was sure of when his encounter with the demon came to an end was that there was very little in the world that he would give up his family for, if anything. Of course, Bill knew that he had no intention of actually considering his proposal in spite of the words Dipper had spoken to him, though he probably also knew that he would soon become vulnerable with regards to his family.

When his dream involving the demon ended and he woke up in a cold sweat, Dipper ignored the fact that it was four o’clock in the morning and shook Mabel awake anyway, desperate to share with her what had happened. His sister wasn’t so amused but for once he wasn’t particularly interested in how she felt about it. All that mattered to him at that moment was his desperation to get his dream about Bill off his chest. Mabel groaned at him when he woke her up, lazily pushing him away from her, and he crouched down on the floor by her bed, preparing to explain to her what he had just experienced.

“Listen, Mabel,” he started in a hushed voice so as not to disturb Grunkle Stan (not that it was likely he’d be able to hear them anyway, but just in case). “I just had a dream with Bill in it.” It took a moment for his sister to recover from the shock of being awoken but when the harsh reality finally set in, she frowned at him as if she didn’t understand. Then she got it. “Exactly. Bill Cipher - the triangle guy,” Dipper confirmed, nodding in affirmation. “He offered me a deal. I don’t know exactly what he wants from me, but he told me he could help me with anything I wanted.”

“You didn’t accept it did you?” Mabel gasped, horrified, while her brother gave her an offended look and told her of course he didn’t accept it. He then went on to explain that he’d told the demon he would consider the offer, although he knew already he was never going to accept it.

The idea that Bill was always watching them and possibly listening to him as well crossed his mind for a moment before he dismissed it - albeit much too easily - as baseless anxiety. He couldn’t really be watching him all the time, could he? Surely he had other people to torment? Ford, for example. He wondered if Bill had been to see him too, or if Grunkle Ford was aware that the demon had visited him. He had told the twins already, after all, that it was likely that Bill would try to turn them against him.

When Mabel asked if he was going to tell Ford, Dipper didn’t know how to respond. He hadn’t even considered it yet. It was inevitable that he’d find out though, so why not get it out the way? That was he told himself as he slipped out through the attic door, leaving his twin sister to get back to sleep seeing as he couldn’t, crept down the stairs whilst carefully avoiding the floorboards he knew would creak when stepped on, and made his way into the basement.

Ford was awake when Dipper entered the basement, busy dismantling the portal he’d built over thirty years ago for the purpose of exactly what he was trying to prevent now: the beginning of Bill’s reign over the globe. The end of the world would only happen if he let it and as far as he concerned, destroying his life’s work was the only way to prevent it from happening. He would not allow Bill to win. He was determined.

Unfortunately for him, so was Bill Cipher.

Dipper rubbed his eyes sleepily as he stumbled into the basement and mumbled Ford’s name in attempt to attract his attention. His uncle stopped what he was doing abruptly and twisted round to stare at him before turning away again after a moment or two. “You’re not meant to be down here, especially not at this time. Stanley won’t like it. You’re meant to be asleep.” None of this was news to Dipper, so albeit hesitantly, he took another few steps further into the room. “Go back to bed, Dipper. Whatever it is, it can wait until the morning.” He changed his mind once Dipper pointed out that it was in fact already morning, admittedly extremely early, and decided to put his current project of disassembling the portal on hold for the time being.

“It’s about Bill.” Clearly this was a different matter altogether, as Ford then told him. He sat down on the floor, crossed his legs and invited Dipper to join him, apologising for the lack of seats. Dipper said he didn’t mind and then went on to describe his dream to him, starting from when Bill saved him from falling and telling him everything up to when he woke up (but leaving out the part where Bill called him a kid after his own heart and said that he hated Ford).

Strangely enough, though he was concerned that the demon had already started going after those closest to him, Ford didn’t seem too worried. Dipper was the person he trusted most in the world - possibly the only one he could trust - and he found it extremely hard to believe that even Bill Cipher would be able to turn him against him. He told him that as long as he continued to refuse Bill’s help, no matter how desperate he got and no matter what Bill promised him, everything would be fine. Dipper knew it would be difficult. The demon could offer him anything in the universe, after all - even things he was sure weren’t even possible - but he was determined not to let his uncle, or anyone else in his family, down.

He was much happier when he left the basement, and to his surprise wasn’t tired at all, though he wasn’t restless or anxious either. At least, not until Stan gave him a reason to forget about his newfound peace and comfort.

The fact that Stan was up so early in the morning should have set alarm bells ringing in his head. The fact that it didn’t meant that he would later come to regret a few choices he made during his conversation with his uncle - mainly, trusting him.

“You’re up early, kid,” Stan commented, keeping his back to him. This should have been another warning but, not wanting anything to ruin what would inevitably be his short-lived peace and quiet, Dipper took no notice of the feeling that something was wrong. That feeling was always there, and it wasn’t always right. “Listen, I need to tell you something,” Stan continued when Dipper remained silent. “I know I’ve always been hard on you - especially since you started hanging around Ford a lot more - but it’s only because I want to protect you.” He turned slightly towards him, so that the twelve year old could see only one half of his face.

Dipper looked up at him and nodded. “I know, Grunkle Stan. I know.” He did know. It just took Stan actually saying it to him to make him understand that bit more.

“Good.” He paused for a moment, as if hesitant about what he was going to say next. “Hey, kid, would you do me a favour?” Dipper waited to hear what he wanted him to do before accepting or refusing, not that he thought he really he had choice. It was probably going to be something unpleasant - like getting rid of an unwanted guest (usually a bat or a rodent of some kind) again. “Just don’t believe in Ford too much, okay? I know he seems trustworthy but… Well, between us, I’m not always the bad twin.” 

Dipper stared at him blankly for a short while before nodding his head again, though somewhat suspicious of exactly what he agreeing to. Then he took off, running back upstairs to Mabel. “And take care of your sister!” he heard Stan shout after him.

He would. He didn’t know how but he would. Even if, for some reason, he couldn’t trust Ford as much as he thought he could, he knew in his heart he’d always have faith in Mabel.

The trouble was, by the time he returned to the attic he’d already his failed his great uncle Stan. He hadn’t taken care of her at all. Her bed was empty and there was no sign of her anywhere. She was gone and had left no trace of her behind. Whatever terrible thing he had just promise to protect her from had already happened.


	3. Caged In

He couldn’t admit to letting Grunkle Stan down - not after just having promised him that he’d protect his sister - so the only person he had to confide in was Ford. After running back downstairs the instant he saw that Mabel’s bed was empty, he hesitated at the entrance to the basement as the idea that Ford would no longer accept him as an apprentice suddenly exploded its way into his mind. He hadn’t actually given a definite answer to Ford after he made the proposition, but every day he was steered closer and closer towards saying yes. But why would someone as knowledgeable and as admirable as Ford want a failure who couldn’t even take care of his own sister as a student?

Regardless, he had no choice in the matter. Ford was the only one who could help him - except for Bill, of course, and there was no doubt in his mind that Bill was the one who was behind Mabel’s disappearance.

By the time he returned to the basement and interrupted his uncle once again, Ford had resumed his demolition of his life’s work: the portal. He almost dropped something in surprise when he heard Dipper re-enter the room, and twisted round to look at him and frowned. He started to say something but was immediately cut off by Dipper’s interruption.

“Mabel’s gone,” he blurted out, wincing at the prospect of a punishment. When his uncle said nothing, he decided to elaborate. “She’s missing. I just went upstairs and she’s not in her bed. I can’t see her anywhere else, either.” Ford took a moment to soak it all in, and then instructed him to start looking for her in and around the Mystery Shack. He was nervous; that much was obvious. He was trying hard not to let it show, but he was worried about Mabel - worried that Bill had gotten to her.

Dipper did as he was told at once in spite of being dubious about whether it would actually do any good. Grunkle Stan was nowhere to be seen either, but he guessed he’d simply gone back to bed. Neither he nor Mabel was allowed to go in Stan’s bedroom (and he assumed Ford was included in that) so that was the only place he didn’t look for his sister inside the shack. It didn’t come to him as a surprise when he didn’t find her. Then, as he’d been instructed to do, he started searching the area around the Mystery Shack - the woods and the waterfall - and when he still didn’t find her there, he ventured into the town, calling her name out with every few steps he took.

It was no use. He kept shouting and shouting, wandering around aimlessly in a desperate attempt to find her, but to no avail. If she was there, she was doing a pretty good job of hiding from him… or whoever was keeping her hidden was doing a good job of it.

There was someone who’d know what to do. Someone he was determined not to submit to unless he deemed it absolutely necessary. His last resort.

But he would not contact him. He would not ask Bill to come to him - not until his other options had all been exhausted; then he’d be a fool not to.

When he arrived back at the Mystery Shack and - walking straight past Grunkle Stan as if he didn’t even exist - let himself into the basement to deliver the unfortunate news that Mabel had not yet been found to his great uncle Ford, he had to wipe away the tears from his eyes before he faced him. He’d started crying on his way town and hadn’t stopped since - until of course he forced himself to stop out of fear of his uncle’s reaction. Stan would certainly mock him and he supposed if she’d been there to see him do it, his sister would too. Ford, on the other hand, would probably just be disappointed in how weak he was. Disappointment was always worse than mockery, especially if the person who’s disappointed in you is the one you respect the most.

For one, fleeting moment, as he prepared to take his first step into the basement, he remembered Stan’s warning: that he shouldn’t put too much faith in Ford. But it was fleeting, and he promptly shrugged it off as nothing more than a sign of Stan’s jealousy towards his twin, even though at the end of the day none of this would have been happening if Ford hadn’t summoned Bill in the first place and made a deal with him.

Nothing good ever came of making deals with Bill Cipher. Ford had once told him that. But this was assuming that it wouldn’t bring one’s best friend back from wherever they were.

Ford didn’t seem surprised at hearing Dipper’s news. Dipper wasn’t surprised at that either. His uncle told him to stop looking. Apparently he’d take care of it all. But for someone who wanted him to become his apprentice, he was strangely evasive when it came to the child’s questions. He wouldn’t answer any of his questions about where he thought Mabel was and was even more secretive when he brought up the possibility that Bill had taken her as a means of convincing them to give up. Finally, when Dipper was still lingering in the basement despite having being told on multiple occasions to leave, Ford ordered him to get out, raising his voice for the first time. He said it was too dangerous for Dipper to handle, that the best thing for him to do was try and forget about his sister, so that it’d be easier for him to get over her disappearance if she didn’t come back. He was already speaking about her as if it was too late - as if they’d seen her for the last time. 

It made Dipper’s blood boil.

As it turned out, he didn’t need to go to the trouble of summoning Bill himself. As always, the demon knew when he was at his weakest, always turning up right at the precise moment he needed him. That was part of what made the demon so damn good at what he did. That and sheer charisma.

He hated to admit it, but there was something about the demon that made his offer irresistible - and not just the fact that he could him anything. The moment he thought it, he made himself stop because it suddenly dawned on him that Bill was probably reading his mind at that very moment.

Instead, he curled up on the floor next to Mabel’s cold, empty bed and let the tears he’d been holding onto start to falls again.

Even worse than letting Grunkle Ford see him cry was letting Bill Cipher see him cry, and unfortunately for him and his efforts to prove his masculinity, that’s exactly what happened.

The moment the colour started to drain from the room, turning everything except Dipper into black and white images of themselves, he knew he didn’t have the time to stop his tears again before Bill caught up to him. He didn’t look up when the demon materialised behind him, even though he was perfectly aware of his presence. There was no doubt that Bill already knew he was crying, but he’d have done anything to hide it from him for just a little while longer, so he kept his face pressed into the palms of his hands which were flat against the floor. He expected Bill to laugh at him but he didn’t; he just hovered a few inches above the ground behind him, watching. That was no great shock. He was always watching.

“There’s no use in crying about it.” That was the first thing Bill said to him. Neither of them had moved five minutes into their encounter when he spoke. “Look, kid, I haven’t got all day. You’re starting to hate Six Fingers and you know it. And if you come here, I’ll tell you a little secret about him.”

That’s what got Dipper to sit up and look at him. Bill’s mention of Ford… He didn’t hate Ford, but maybe he was right - maybe he was starting to. He stood up and faced the demon head on. Sitting down only made him smaller. When he made no move to get any closer, Bill sighed and moved closer to the child instead.

“He’s the one you should be blaming, not me,” he said in a slightly hushed voice. “For Shooting Star going missing, I mean.” Dipper just blinked at him, unsure of whether he was telling the truth or not. “I can help you,” the demon continued, leaning back nonchalantly. “I can help you find her. You know what you have to do.” Dipper nodded and thought for a moment.

He knew already what he was going to do. It was just that he didn’t really want to do it. He couldn’t trust Bill but he no longer believed he could trust Grunkle Ford. There wasn’t much point in considering his options but he did anyway simply in order to buy himself some time. Bill knew where Mabel was. Ford probably did too. He couldn’t trust either of them, but at least Bill was offering his help whereas Ford was remaining secretive about the whole subject. In hindsight, this was probably a sign that Bill was the one he should have trusted least, but this didn’t cross his mind until later on. For the time being, he was too focused on finding his sister to think clearly.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked slowly, as if it were the most difficult thing in the world.

Bill looked thoughtful for a minute. “Let me show you something first. You’re going to love this, Pine Tree. This is what your life will be like once you surrender to me.” He clicked his fingers, the sound far too close to the snapping of bone for Dipper’s liking, and a metal cage manifested around the child, trapping him inside. “I always liked the thought of keeping you in a cage. Cute, wouldn’t you agree?” Dipper did nothing but shrink under the demon’s scrutinising gaze and draw in his arms and legs so they weren’t touching the metal bars of the cage in case they were toxic or dangerous in some other way. 

“Of course, I’d let you most of the time. This is just where you’d sleep. Normally you’d be chained to me.” Bill clicked his fingers again, only this time the cage dispelled and instead Dipper found himself wincing in pain as something hard and metallic wrapped itself around his wrist too tightly for comfort. He pulled his hand away but something pulled it back immediately, and he glanced down to find a not-long-enough chain connecting his wrist with that of the demon. “That’s how I know you’d never leave,” Bill explained curtly. “Otherwise you’d find some way to run off, knowing you.”

The chain suddenly loosened around Dipper’s wrist, leaving behind a bright red mark which - according to Bill - would fade away in time. He wondered how this was supposed to convince him to submit to him, but Bill answered his silent question at the same time he asked it.

“Shooting Star will be safe, Pine Tree. That’s why you need to do this.” Dipper dropped his gaze to the floor and rubbed the mark on his wrist, half-hoping it would fade away faster. “You’ll be safe, too. And there’s more.” He could practically hear the smirk in his voice, even though that was impossible. Bill couldn’t smirk; he didn’t even have a mouth. “I can teach you things. Magic. Isn’t that every kid’s dream? To be great and powerful and magical? Old Six Fingers doesn’t want you as a student anymore - not after today. But I do. I want you to be my apprentice.”

This gave Dipper even more to think about. Unfortunately he didn’t have the time to do any more thinking.

“So how about it? Do we have a deal?”

He did. He knew he did. He didn’t need Dipper to answer to know he was winning. All he needed was that all important handshake.


	4. Heartbeat

In hindsight, they were both foolish - foolish for thinking they could trust each other, for believing they’d be able to stand their ground while being together for every second of every sordid day, and for having confidence in the belief that they’d be able to break each other whilst simultaneously keeping themselves from falling apart. It was never going to work. They were doomed to fail from the beginning. Bill’s plans would fall short and Dipper would just… fall. In every sense of the word.

If only they’d seen it coming. Then they might have been able to save themselves - and each other.

As soon as the deal had been made, Bill reminded him there was no going back just to rub salt in the unbearably painful wound he’d already made. Dipper didn’t need reminding. He was well aware that now he had surrendered himself to the demon, he’d never be able to get back the life he was leaving behind. Bill would never give him up and he told him so.

But before he was whisked away to the world he would eventually learn to call his home, the metal chain that had marked his flesh returned and coiled around his wrist again under the demon’s command. It slunk its way around Bill’s thin wrist too, binding them together. A flash of almost blinding light surrounded them without warning, momentarily taking away Dipper’s sense of sight and forcing him to close his eyes to prevent permanent damage. When he opened them again, blinking slowly to allow himself to adjust, he saw that he was still inside the Mystery Shack - and he was still attached to Bill via a magically manifested metal chain.

Their precise location, however, was unfamiliar to him due to him not being permitted to be there. If Stan had known he was there - with or without a megalomaniac demon accompanying him - he would have made his life a living hell for the rest of the summer - or he would have tried to, though the demon had already been doing a better job of that than Stan could ever do. They were outside Stan’s bedroom, standing (or floating) in the hall outside the door. He didn’t understand why, seeing as this couldn’t have had anything to do with what Bill wanted from him, but he didn’t dare question the demon - not out loud, anyway.

A golden cane appeared in Bill’s hand and he pushed the door open with it, dragging Dipper into the room he was banned from entering. Stan was there but he didn’t seem to notice their presence at all, which Bill assured him was a result of his magic. As he was dragged further into the dusty, cobweb-caked room (it was a wonder anyone was prepared to spend much time there, given how unclean it was) he saw that Stan wasn’t alone. He was sitting on the edge of his bed with his back uncharacteristically straight, his body rigid, as hazy blue orbs of light danced in front of his eyes, indicating his lack of consciousness.

Standing in the corner with her arms by her sides as those same orbs of light covered her eyes, was Mabel. Her face was unusually expressionless. It didn’t feel like Mabel anymore.

Bill had done something to them. He just didn’t know what.

“See,” the demon said proudly, pointing at Mabel with his cane. “Your sister’s safe. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” Dipper nodded dumbly, barely hearing what the demon was saying. He kept his gaze trained on his sister’s lifeless face and gritted his teeth to show that although he’d made a deal with him, he still considered Bill his enemy. He moved to walk over to Mabel but the chain held him back. She was still alive and so was Stan - the blue lights covering their eyes were testament to that - but they definitely weren’t right. Whatever had happened to them, it certainly wasn’t normal and he was willing to bet Bill hadn’t done it out of pure kindness.

“Can you believe what your uncle did?” This time he pointed his cane at Grunkle Stan, and for a brief moment his eye glowed red. “This is exactly why I don’t trust humans… Scaring you like that. Trying to make you think you’d let him down. Terrible, isn’t it?” Dipper nodded at first but then quickly realised he had no idea what Bill was talking about. Bill knew this already but didn’t bother to explain, instead changing the subject to Grunkle Ford. “Humans are traitors by nature, Pine Tree. Look at that six-fingered uncle of yours. Of course, you’re different. I can trust you.”

With that, he tugged harshly on the chain, pulling Dipper back to his side. “You want to see him, don’t you? To make sure I haven’t done anything too horrible to him?” He was referring to Ford. The fact that Dipper wanted to see him was a given; he didn’t even need to respond to the demon’s question for him to know the answer - in any case, he wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t know it already.

Dipper was going to have to start getting used to suddenly being engulfed by a bright light every so often - the demon said so - because by committing himself to a life with Bill Cipher, he’d also agreed to have that happen to him an awful lot more often than he wanted it to. In fact, he’d rather it never happened at all.

The next time it happened they wound up in the basement, where Ford was lying on the ground next to the half-demolished portal. His eyes were closed but the expression on his face suggested he wasn’t as peaceful as Dipper had hoped. Bill promised he wasn’t dead and Dipper could do nothing but pray that he wasn’t lying to him. “I’m not,” Bill asserted, moving backwards slightly to prevent the child from getting any closer to his uncle. “Ready to leave?” He made it sound like he had a choice.

“Where are we going?”

The answer was simple. Just one word. “Home.”

It was strange to think that Bill had a home, and the demon laughed at him when considered it. Travelling to his home, unfortunately for Dipper, included being encompassed in a flash of blinding blue light again (though this time he managed to close his eyes before the light appeared). He wondered if the demon really needed to do it, or if he just did it for the joy of irritating him. He guessed it was a combination of the two.

The two of them wound up in a strange land that Dipper would have preferred never to have visited, though unfortunately he found himself confined to that strange, nightmarish land for the foreseeable future. The sky was a hallucinogenic mess of garish hues - scarlets and greens and brash, vivid blues - and yet the world below it lacked any signs of life, the prevailing colour being a murky, shadowy black. The very few trees that were scattered around were bleak and bare, with only a fraction having any leaves at all. The ground underneath Dipper’s feet was stony and hurt his bare feet as he walked on it, and covered in dusty brown dirt that snuck in between his toes and added to his discomfort.

The miserable pattern he had noticed forming in the barren wasteland his demonic companion appeared to consider his “home” was broken in one particular area (excluding the colourful, chaotic sky). While the rest of the ground was dreary and dismal, the path directly ahead of him gave him hope that his stay there (however long it was destined to be) wouldn’t be all bad. Bill was about to comment on the child’s lack of enthusiasm when the human caught sight of the path before him - a dazzling trail of solid gold blocks that shone when the light from the sky hit it and sparkled even when the light couldn’t reach it. It didn’t stay level on the ground like a usual path would either. It lifted up towards its destination, like a ramp, though nothing was supporting it from underneath.

Then he looked up and saw what it was leading to. He swallowed audibly, glanced down at the stony ground for a moment and then looked back up at Bill.

Ahead of them was an enormous pyramid built entirely out of colossal black bricks and edged with gold. There were no windows, but there was one arch-shaped door at the end of the golden pathway, and it was levitating above the ground. It was intimidating to say the least, not that Dipper’s opinion on it meant much to Bill.

Instead of teleporting like they normally did, they walked - or floated - towards the pyramid, the golden pathway unusually warm against Dipper’s bare feet. “This is our castle,” the demon announced as they made their way towards it. “You’ll be living here with me for…” he paused, studied the human’s face, and then continued. “Well, until I decide to let you go. Don’t get your hopes up.”

As they drew near, Dipper saw that what he’d thought was a door was actually just a hole that was big enough to let them through. Once they reached it, Bill floated in first, leaving Dipper to be dragged into the darkness after him. He stepped into the unknown, his heartbeat thudding in his ears - yet another warning that something wasn’t right - and fell.


	5. Loveless

At least, he thought he fell. He didn’t drop and go on falling and falling for hours on end like Alice did when she fell down the rabbit hole, or like he seemed to do when he’d fallen down the bottomless pit trying to stop Grunkle Stan from doing the very same. Or maybe he did and he just didn’t realise.

In reality, he had simply stumbled at the entrance, tripping over the threshold, and was now being dragged across the marble floor by his heartless demon companion, who didn’t seem to realise his distress - though it was more likely he just didn’t care to help him. He spluttered wildly, flailing his arms in attempt to hold onto something whilst silently hoping the demon would stop soon to let him regain his balance. 

It may have just been the fact that he was being dragged, but it felt as they’d been going for miles even though it couldn’t have been more than a minute or so since he’d tripped. When Bill finally stopped, he clapped his hands and the room lit its up. Scrambling to his feet, Dipper took a deep breath - relieved to be able to stand up properly again - and examined his new surroundings.

There didn’t seem to be a method to Bill’s madness at all, though the demon would have disagreed with him if he’d told him that’s what he thought. While the outside had been bleak and desolate - the vibrant, hallucinogenic sky being the only exception - the castle’s interior was bursting with rich, almost noble hues. Dark, powerful reds and velvety blacks prevailed, covering what felt like almost the entire room, occasionally accompanied by a trace of gold. The walls were red and marble floor was black, with a pathway made of red carpet leading from the entrance to where they now stood.

Glancing at it, he wondered if it had been there before, since he was sure he’d felt cold hard flooring beneath his feet - marble, like what lay beneath the carpet. But he didn’t have much time to consider it because Bill was tugging harshly at the chain, demanding that he came closer. He took a step forward and then something clicked inside his brain and Bill calling the strange pyramid their “castle” suddenly made sense. Up until now, he’d thought it was just Bill being arrogant, like he usually was, but now he had a different theory.

Behind the demon, with the red carpeting running underneath it, was an enormous golden throne that glimmered in the shadows around it. While Dipper stood and soaked it all in, Bill turned away for a moment and sat down on his throne, pulling the child along with him. With one hand, he pushed down on the back of Dipper’s head, forcing him to kneel on the marble floor next to him. He knew he shouldn’t have dared dream he’d have a throne too - but Bill had said it would be their castle, not just his.

“Sit down, kid,” the demon ordered. “We have work to do.”

Curious as to what the demon considered work - and whether he’d have to do anything - Dipper sat and stared at him, observing him but was soon disappointed when Bill did nothing. “I thought you said…” he started, only to be cut off by the demon almost instantly.

“I did!” he snapped, apparently offended. “I don’t just laze around here like some kind of human, Pine Tree. I do have people to meet with, you know. I do have friends.” He crossed his arms and sent a furious glance the human’s direction.

Dipper raised his eyebrows. “Really?” he asked, unwilling to believe that anyone would really care about the demon enough to call him a friend.

“Yes!” Bill hissed at him, sending a fiery a glare in his direction. “Who wouldn’t want to be friends with a god?”

Biting back the temptation to mutter a very bitter “Me”, Dipper curled up on the floor beside the demon’s throne and closed his eyes, hoping to get some sleep (though he wasn’t entirely certain he wasn’t already dreaming). It was hard to relax. The chain around his wrist was too constricted and painfully so, and there were too many unanswered questions keeping his mind awake for him to anything but stressed and inquisitive.

He still didn’t know that Mabel and the rest of his family were okay, and even if they were, what would they think when they woke up to find him missing? If they ever did wake up, that is. Would he ever see them again? What was he going to do there, where he was now, in the barren wasteland that Bill was forcing him to stay in? Bill wasn’t answering any of them, and it was clear he had no intention to.

He couldn’t tell if he’d been asleep or not, but when he opened his eyes again and sat up, Bill hadn’t moved an inch. He was still sat in exactly the same position he had been before, but when he took a closer look he found that the demon’s eye held a vacant expression, as if his mind was elsewhere.

“What are you doing, Pine Tree?” Bill said after a moment or so, and Dipper jerked back in shock; he hadn’t expected the demon to move after he’d been sat still for so long. “Well, I suppose you’re bored - children always are. I’ll show you around.” He moved again, leaving the throne behind and floating over to the middle of the room. Dipper managed to keep up this time, narrowly avoiding even more pain and discomfort from the chain. “Our visitors - well, subjects, really - will always meet us here. A few of them are coming over later. They want to meet you.”

Dipper didn’t like the idea of that at all, but he couldn’t exactly tell Bill that. He was in no position to argue and knew it, regardless of whether he liked it or not. Sensing that they were about to teleport somewhere, he closed his eyes in preparation for it and opened them to find himself in another room of the castle, just as he’d predicted. This room was essentially identical to the other one in terms of decoration, but a four-poster bed adorned with blue and gold sheets stood in one corner, opposite a black sofa embellished with lace and a couple of red square cushions. There was a desk across the room from him with a chair behind it. As much as he hated to admit it, there was nothing for him to complain about. In fact, it was a much nicer room than the one he slept in at the Mystery Shack.

“Don’t get so excited, kid.” Of course, there had to be a catch. There was always a catch. In hindsight, he was stupid to think the demon would ever do something nice for him - especially when he’d told him earlier that he’d be sleeping in cage. How could he think he’d have such a lavish room to stay in? “Aw, Pine Tree, you don’t have to look so miserable,” Bill droned. “You get to stay here too.”

Dipper jerked his head up and stared at him, his face expressionless. He didn’t know how to feel. There was just… confusion. “This is for both of us,” the demon explained. “If you’re good, you can sleep in the bed. Otherwise, it’s mine and you sleep in the cage.” Dipper frowned, because what did Bill need a bed for? Dream demons didn’t sleep; he was sure they didn’t. Why would they? He knew the demon was aware of what he was thinking. He just wasn’t answering him.

Recognising the child’s inquisitive nature, Bill sat down on the edge of the bed, crossed his legs and mentioned the fact that Dipper clearly had a lot of questions to ask. Just as Dipper opened his mouth and began to ask the first of his long list of questions, the demon held a hand up and interrupted him. “I’m not going to answer any of them. We’ve got better things to do.”

Though slightly disheartened, Bill had not discouraged him enough to stop him from trying to get any answers. “What time is it?” It was a simple question that most people - most humans - would have answered without thinking twice about it. Since there were on clocks inside the castle - at least as far as he could see - and he didn’t own a watch, there was no way for him to know what the time actually was.

To his surprise, Bill actually did answer his question… in a way. “Take your pick,” he replied curtly. “Time does not exist here. You can decide what time it is based on your mood.”

Sighing heavily, Dipper kept silent - he had nothing left to say, in spite of the millions of questions left unanswered - and kneeled down on the floor by the bed. He just wanted to sleep. And when he woke up, he’d realise it had all been one terrible nightmare. Bill Cipher probably didn’t even exist. Who knew what was real and what wasn’t? But thinking that Bill was simply part of a nightmare was nothing more than a distant dream. He was real and he was worse than he’d ever seen him before. At first, he’d seemed like a nuisance - working with Gideon to try and take over the Mystery Shack - but he hadn’t seemed dangerous. Now he was life-threatening.

If he’d had such foresight, he would have made sure to get away from the demon the first time they met, though he doubted now that was even possible. Bill was everywhere, especially in this world. Everywhere he looked, he saw Bill - whether it was on tapestries hanging from the walls or rugs strewn across the floor, he couldn’t get away from him. He was ubiquitous. Just like a god, he told himself. Maybe this was why Bill was so sure of himself. Maybe this was why he considered himself a god.

Then a terrifying thought struck him. Maybe he wasn’t just being arrogant like he’d first thought. Maybe he was a god. He was almost certainly all-knowing and seemed to be all-powerful, though he was definitely not all-loving - if anything he was the exact opposite. But was that really a requirement?

“You’d hate everyone too,” Bill interjected, clearly having read his thoughts. “If you saw the universe from my point of view.” 

Dipper kept his mouth shut because he didn’t know how to answer and Bill didn’t speak either. His words had set off a new chain of burning questions in Dipper’s mind, but he didn’t voice any of them; he was sure the demon was well aware of his curiosity anyway, whether he voiced it or not. After a short while, he shifted into a more comfortable position, accidentally pulling on the chain connecting him to demon and drawing Bill’s attention.

“How can you live like this?” he asked, not really expecting an answer. He really didn’t understand how anyone could live for God knows how long without caring for a single other being, or wanting to be loved by anyone else at all. “How can you live such a loveless life?” he repeated, now hoping for an answer even though he didn’t expect to receive one.

Bill stayed quiet for a minute. He didn’t seem like he intended to answer at all, though Dipper later found out he was merely thinking. He leaned forwards and kicked the child with his feet, for no apparent reason other than to revel in his discomfort, and then continued to fall into what appeared to be a state of unconsciousness, which was actually him thinking deeply about his answer again.

“It’s simple,” he said after a moment. “I am loveless. It’s a pointless emotion, Pine Tree. It’s a pointless emotion that can only do one of two things: get you killed, or something even worse than that.”

“What’s worth than death?” Dipper blurted out without thinking.

He winced when the demon tugged harshly on the chain and it seemed to get even tighter - enough to cut off his circulation for a few horrible seconds. “Keep that up, kid, and you’ll find out.”


End file.
